A Worthy Winner

By Brett Erasmus

Willstrop serves to start the 2010 Tournament of Champions finals. He hits a straight drive to a forehand length which beats Ashour for width. Ashour is too high up on the T and does not see the shot as it is a basically just a hard push off a hold at the front. It is simple, clean and well executed. And it gave us an idea of what is to unfold. Ashour, expectedly, starts hitting his shots and goes up 4-2, but then tries a high soft backhand lob – this shot does not bother 6 foot 4 Willstrop in the slightest and he wins the rally with a good length shot. Ashour quickly returns to his game plan (to win in the front) and starts dropping from everywhere. He is hitting everything as early as possible, trying to force the pace. He is even hitting half volleys from the middle of the court. He is winning points like this and is gaining confidence in his game plan.

Ashour then tries another hard down the middle shot from the backhand side. But Willstrop catches this very early and to Ashour’s surprise is waiting right behind him with racquet prepared on the backhand (ordinarily the racquet would be on the forehand, to cover the cross). Stroke to Willstrop. Ashour is perplexed, how did that happen? A few points later, Willstrop holds up behind Ashour’s back off a weak forehand drop by the Egyptian; then he quickly steps around and uses his reach to hit another straight push to win the point anyway. Ashour does not even move. He clearly thought Willstrop would stop and ask for a let; he turns with a smile of embarrassment - he knows he cannot ask for the let himself, as they were both passed the interference and the ball was long gone. Willstrop is tenacious.

At 8-6 Ashour completely misses an attempted 3 wall boast from the back left. This is not a good shot when you miss it. Could it be that Ramy is not on tonight? It is 9-8 now and Ashour starts cutting down on every ball. Ashour goes 10-9 on a good short volley backhand cut shot, which may have been down and Willstrop appeals. Ashour is leaving no room in his shot, and again he goes for his favorite volley nick but tins it, as he was off balance. The scores are level. Willstrop also wins the next point (game ball) off a great forehand drive from the front right. What made it great was a hold and then a massive shoulder fake which sent Ashour’s body left, to counterattack a ball that was not there. This clearly shook Ashour up and in the final point he made a bad mental error to tin an easy forehand volley. A shot he would hit very well 19 times out of 20 on any other day. Game 1 to Willstrop.

Ashour starts game 2 with a familiar high soft drop in the front. As we’ve established, he plays this to buy himself time to recover court position. But this shot only works when it is tight to the side wall, as Matthew demonstrated a few times in Ashour’s previous match. Willstrop sets up another winner with a forehand drop from back. It is confusing to everyone that Willstrop is the one dropping from the back not Ashour, especially to his on court opponent, I am sure. Ashour just gets there and cannot get back for the cross-court. He looks shaken up again, things are not going his way. He makes another mental error and tins a forehand drop. Willstrop is working harder in this game but is up 4-1. Ashour is struggling now and panics so he goes for the forehand volley cross-court nick off the serve and, surprisingly, he misses it. He is 5-1 down and in big trouble in this game. You cannot afford to go down too far in the point a rally format. A few points later Ashour misses another sitter on the forehand volley. The world number 1 is not himself tonight. He cannot miss shots like that and expect to win. Willstrop then hits a really tight volley drop off the backhand. It looks like he is basically trying to shoot before Ashour can. Welcome to a brand new game. At 8-4 to Willstrop, Ashour hits a great cross-court angle from the backhand after sprinting the full diagonal. The crowd erupts, it was a great get, and they want him to fight back and stay in the game, but Ashour is now working way harder than Willstrop and this is taking its toll. Ashour misses another easy forehand volley and goes game ball down. Unbelievably, he hits the same shot down in the next point and loses the game by a 6 point margin. Ashour is in a world of trouble.

In the 3rd Ashour starts cutting down on the ball hard and is bringing the fight to Willstrop. Game on. Ashour misses another backhand volley and starts coaching himself. He needs to tell himself to stop hitting tins I thought. Lots of cross-courts follow from Ashour. He is trying to force the pace and keep the ball off the sidewalls to set himself up to hit his winners. But Willstrop is slowing it down and keeping it tight and just absorbing the pressure. It appears that Ashour requires pace in order to execute his game plan. Willstrop is not giving him any. He is keeping the ball moving relatively slow and as tight as possible. He only hits it hard when he knows Ashour is out of position. Like in the next point, when Ashour gets stuck in front and pops up a familiar high short shot off a tight forehand drop. The ball is off the side wall again and Willstrop does a great Jonathan Power fake to win on the cross-court. He swings at the ball twice basically, the first swing is a fake. The crowd is impressed. So Willstrop does same thing in the very next point. He wins this rally too on a forehand drive. He is playing good solid squash, but Ashour has reduced the errors is still up in this game. Willstrop is trying to keep everything wide and tight and as far away from Ashour’s volleys as possible. A nice touch forehand drop by Willstrop seems him close in on match point at 9-9 (he is 2-0 in games remember). The momentum is in his favor and he is only 2 rallies from the championship. It could end right here. The best rally of the match follows in which Willstrop has Ashour on the ropes for very long time. He gets him scrambling to every corner of the court. Willstrop works his position and finds himself with a sitter on the forehand. He tins it, probably just out of nervous anticipation. It must be hard to keep your nerve when claiming match point against the world number 1. Willstrop throws his hands in the air in disbelief and the racquet goes flying. Another unbelievable rally follows. Willstrop finds himself doing all the running now as Ashour takes charge. He is hitting everything he possibly can. He used a trickle boast and other short angles, everything and anything he could think of. He finally wins the point on an incredible backhand cross-court drop to the nick. Ashour turns and shouts loudly and does a Tiger fist pump. The crowd goes wild.

The anticipation is tangible as the players return for the 4th game. In the first point a harsh let call should probably have earned Ashour a stroke. This rattles him and he goes for his favorite backhand volley nick and misses it. He is not nearly as sharp today as he was in his last 2 games. His short cut backhand is getting Willstrop out of position and Ashour keeps hitting it. He knows he can win with it. Drama ensues as Ashour appeals a pick-up off one of these shots and the refs claim they were unsighted. It may have been a double bounce but was so quick not even Willstrop himself likely was sure. Things are not going Ashour’s way. Willstrop’s shot are sharp and crisp. Willstrop is getting to Ashour’s shots and is catching him in front with strokes when the ball is tight on the side wall. His reach and height helps with this. Willstrop is 5-1 up now and senses victory. ‘Come on James’ shouts a sole British accent. He hits a forehand volley straight kill-shot. It is a beautiful shot and sees him up 6-1. ‘Come on James’, the crowd responds with similar encouragement. Willstrop then plays a very good forehand redrop which is too tight to hit and the score goes to 7-1. ‘Come on James’. Willstrop tries this again in the next point as the players exchange about 6 forehand redrops in the front right. Someone busts out laughing during the point.. ‘Shhhhhh’ says the crowd. Ashour misses another backhand cross-court drop. The count is 9-3. ‘Come on James’ is still the shout. Willstrop hits a cross-court drop off of a massive hold in front. Ashour does not even move for the ball. He is done. ‘Come on James’. At the end Willstrop uses a flat volley cut very effectively to get the ball tight to the floor and far away from any possible Ashour attacking shot. He wins the match 3-1 and is visibly elated. He shakes Ashour’s hand, then turns and throws his hands in the air. Willstrop is genuinely very happy. I did not know he could smile that broadly. The tears follow shortly after.

Based on his junior record, Willstrop is one of the best squash players England has ever produced. I am sure everyone was hoping that someday he might achieve the impossible and claim the world number one spot back from the Egyptian players who have dominated the game in the recent past. He showed this potential tonight. He was incredibly disciplined, obviously well prepared (on what to expect from Ashour) and how to contain him, and made hardly any errors in the match. In the process of winning this game, he has done something that no other squash player has done (not as far as I know) – he beat the current 3 best Egyptian players in a row and all in one tournament: Shabana in the quarters, Darwish in the semis, and Ashour in the finals.

Willstrop and his team of supporters have worked really hard for many years to get to this point. Willstrop admitted in his acceptance speech that this is the highlight of his career to date. He clearly meant it as he was getting emotional. He took a moment to compose himself and pulled out a few notes, much to everyone’s surprise. He had written down whom to thank, to be sure not to miss anyone. He joked that he does not often get to give acceptance speeches and that, if we would indulge him, he would like to take his time with this one. Willstrop reads from a long list of people who supported him over his career. He is immensely gracious. Willstrop is a very worthy winner.